Researchers made a surprising discovery during a research trip to the Cocos Islands (also called the Keeling Islands, ed.), which lie about 2,900 kilometers northwest of the Australian capital Perth in the Indian Ocean. During a trawl survey, they found a shark graveyard at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 5400 meters.
Scientists have recovered more than 750 fossilized shark teeth representing a range of species from the Indian Ocean. According to Glenn Moore, fish curator at the Western Australian Museum, the fossils are said to come from modern and ancient sharks.
“The teeth appear to come from modern sharks such as mako sharks and great white sharks, as well as some ancestral sharks, including the direct ancestor of the basking shark megalodon,” Moore said on Australia’s CSIRO website. “This shark evolved into the megalodon, the largest of all sharks, but became extinct 3.5 million years ago.”
Also found teeth from a megalodon ancestor
Said to be 16 to 20 meters long, the megalodon was considered one of the most powerful predators to have ever lived. However, the primeval shark is only known from fragmentary remains – such as its teeth. Its appearance and maximum size are still uncertain. Some of the teeth collected here (pictured below) are likely from its ancestor, a shark that grew to more than 12 meters in length when fully grown.
Moore said it was amazing that such a large number of teeth could be collected from a relatively small area of the seafloor. “It’s incredible to think that we collected all these teeth in a net from the sea floor about four to five kilometers below the sea surface,” the scientist said on the CSIRO website.
Source: Krone
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